"Stefano and Domenico were talking about the real Dolce & Gabbana woman, but more modern, slightly broken down—the way a real woman would wear her makeup," McGrath said. "In a way, no one does really perfect eyeliner. The lipstick would be a little bit worn off. But she would be radiant and stunning."

On the eyes, McGrath used a black eyeliner pencil on the outer corners of the eyes, but didn't create a point at the edge. She applied eyeshadow from Dolce & Gabbana's Nude Collection around and underneath the eyes, dabbed a bit of highlighter on the lids and in the inner corners of the eyes, and drew white eyeliner on the inner eye rims. Then "tons of mascara on top of the lashes," she said.

Because the clothes and the makeup had such a high glamour factor, Souleiman decided to make the hair more low key. "You make the hair really glamorous, and it's going to look incredibly old-fashioned," he said. "So we're making the hair more sensual."

"This is kind of the classic updo for Dolce, but we're doing it in a slightly different way this time," Souleiman said. He put the hair in a low, loose ponytail, then folded the hair back in on itself and pulled it through a section of hair above the tail. "It gives us a beautiful baggy shape and all of these lovely little wisps. I love the wisps," he said.

"The music's opera, so that gives you a sense of what the hair should do when it moves," Souleiman said of all the wisps in front. "It should flow. It should be very soft. It should look a little more soulful, and you should feel the romance."

Souleiman didn't stress about making each model's hair exactly the same. "The lips pull everything together. It's the one thing that's very noticeable with every girl." So he actually tweaked each model's hair slightly to make it more individual.